Nov. 30, 2005
Lori Lipman Brown, director and lobbyist of the Secular Coalition for America made her second appearance on The O'Reilly Factor last night.
This time she was there to speak to the Fox News talk show host about how secularists view Christmas.
From the Factor web site:
- Lori Lipman Brown, director of the Secular Coalition, said Christmas does not need to be a federal holiday. "I don't think it needs to be a federal holiday. That's a government endorsement of a Christian holiday." The Factor noted that the Founding Fathers probably used the term "Merry Christmas" to one another, to which Brown said, "But they didn't put it in the Constitution." The Factor retorted: "They never envisioned a person like you objecting to it."
To read a transcript of the interview and to watch the video, visit:
- Is 'The Factor's' Christmas Campaign Going Overboard?, (trans. and video by "The O'Reilly Factor", Fox News, Nov. 30, 2005).
As with the last two times Brown appeared on Fox News the Secular Coalition for America received some positive messages and some hate mail.
HNN obtained copies of some of the emails to the SCA.
One viewer wrote: "I am insulted by the word 'secular'. To me, it stands for jealousy. Why are you and your people so jealous of our religion?"
Another viewer, however, wrote to the SCA to ask "Why are contributions to churches allowed to be 'Tax Deductible?' This certainly constitutes a 'subsidy' by our government."
Humanist Network News is a weekly e-zine, and now podcast, of the Institute for Humanist Studies. The Institute for Humanist Studies promotes humanism, a non-religious philosophy based on reason and compassion. IHS advances human rights, secular ethics and the separation of religion and government through advocacy, innovation and collaboration.
More stories about Lori Lipman Brown on O'Reilly:
- O'Reilly: "I'm happy the atheists have a voice", (story by HNN, Oct. 5, 2005).
- O'Reilly viewers react to lobbyist for secularism, (story by HNN, Oct. 5, 2005).
- Bill O'Reilly Helps the Secular Coalition for America, (column by MichNews.com, Sept. 29, 2005).
- "McCarthyism" gave us "Under God" in the Pledge, (blog by Secular Left, Sept. 29, 2005).
- Godless Lobbyist Debriefing, (blog entry by It Ain't Necessarily So, Sept. 29, 2005).
- Godless Lobbyist vs. Bill O'Reilly, (blog entry by atheism.about.com, Oct. 1, 2005).
- Secular Lobbyist To Take On O'Reilly, (story by Daily Kos, Sept. 16, 2005).
[Editor's Note: The Secular Coalition for America is a national 501(c)(4) lobbying organization in Washington D.C. dedicated to promoting secularism and humanism on the federal level. Members of the SCA include the American Humanist Association, the Atheist Alliance International, the Internet Infidels, the Institute for Humanist Studies, the Secular Student Alliance. The Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers is an honorary member of the SCA.]
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